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Self-Obsessed season two is here! I’m really proud of these episodes.

The recap in the first episode says it all, but here’s the long and the short of it:

Sina Grace is a cartoonist who just got himself out of an artistic rut, and he wants to move with his best foot forward on a graphic memoir called Self-Obsessed. Easier said than done, as usual. The first episode finds him pitching to an unimpressed editor, the second episode finds him and Amber at a comic convention, and things only get weirder from there.

It’s a secular holiday celebrating the beginning of spring (vernal equinox) that has been around for near 3,000 years!

Here’s a drawing of Hajji Firuz- a fictional character in Iranian folklore who dances through the streets of Iran during the Nowruz (“New Day”/ Persian New Year), singing songs & bringing joy. He’s kind of like Santa Claus in that people dress up like him, put on the hat and prance around the streets with a tambourine singing classic standards like “Haji Firouz E!” and “Beskan Beskan!”

Controversy: traditionally, his face was colored in soot because the character was a black-faced serf trying to cheer people who he refers to as lords.

If you wanna learn more about Persian folks outside of “they’re all Muslim”*, check out my digital zine, Persian Version. 40 pages of cute asides, for $1.99:

Expanded and updated my zine PERSIAN VERSION. Added four new spreads, an intro and updated the cover. Still the same price ($1.99)!

About Persian Version …

Being Persian is pretty dope. Throughout my adolescence, my sister and I would poke fun at the differences and similarities with Persian and American culture. Collected in this zine is a bunch of lighthearted observations, meant to show folks all around that there’s more to be considered about Iranians than just their religion and all-around good looks.